


Won't You Be Mine(craft)

by altmuse



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Online Gaming AU, Ymir-Centric, minecraft au, more relationships later, they're playing minecraft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:53:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29050947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/altmuse/pseuds/altmuse
Summary: As a tired college student, Ymir has one hobby that she dedicates most of her time toward: gaming. She mostly sticks to shooters and action games, and she plays regularly with Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie.When her friends introduce her to Minecraft, she's a little lost at first. She's never played the game, and her first PVP match goes pretty much as expected. But from her defeat comes a different kind of victory: a friendly player by the name of christaclear.
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Eren Yeager, Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir, Reiner Braun/Bertolt Hoover
Comments: 45
Kudos: 80





	1. Survival Games

**Author's Note:**

> hello! this fic was inspired by a tiktok, and my brain is full of too much fluff for a one-shot so we're going with many chapters :)  
> It's a modern AU in which Ymir meets Historia through Minecraft, and a friendship blossoms from there. I hope you enjoy!

Ymir had a very simple schedule for her life. Go to class, play some games, sleep, and repeat. Occasionally she’d throw some homework into the mix, but that was the only deviation. Most of her nights were spent plopped on the floor in front of her TV, controller in one hand and a bowl of snacks in the other. And that was just how she liked it.

Her current game of choice was Modern Warfare, an online shooter, and she could proudly admit that she kicked ass. Tonight, she and her friend Annie were kicking Reiner’s ass while Bertholdt mostly avoided combat. 

When Ymir took out Reiner with a sniper from halfway across the map, a frustrated shout exploded from her headset.

“Damn it, Ymir!” Reiner complained, and there was a  _ thud  _ that likely resulted from him throwing down his controller. 

She snickered at his reaction--no matter how many times it happened, she could never get enough. “This always happens,” she reminded him with a teasing lilt. “You always lose to me and end up rage-quitting.”

Annie’s monotone chimed in, “Lose to  _ us _ .”

“Same thing,” she said, shrugging despite being alone. “You know, Reiner, if you switched up the teams for once, you wouldn’t lose so badly."

The voice chat was quiet for a moment. “It’s not my fault Bert wants to be on the same team,” Reiner argued.

Bertholdt was quick to correct him. “That’s not true, actually. I said I was fine changing the teams.”

Ymir laughed again as her friends began to bicker.  _ Busted _ , she thought, though it was nothing new. Everyone except for Reiner knew that he had a thing for Bertholdt, so no one ever said anything about it. When Annie joined in to back Bertholdt up, Reiner logged out of the game.

“We’re playing something else,” he grumbled.

_ Happens every time _ , Ymir mused cheerily. She was still soaking in the enjoyment of watching Reiner die repeatedly, so she was fine with switching the game. Their friend group usually cycled between the same couple games, which Ymir’s wallet was quite thankful for. 

“Alright,” she said. “You wanna play Titanfall? We can play co-op, if you’re tired of losing. Not that I’d ever be tired of winning.”

There was a brief pause before Reiner responded. “That’s suspiciously considerate of you, cut it out.”

Once again, Annie interjected. “She just wants to troll you,” she deadpanned, and Ymir could picture the accompanying eye roll. But hey, it wasn’t her fault that Reiner was such easy prey. 

When Ymir didn’t offer any defense, Reiner cursed. “You’re an ass.”

“Birds of a feather, blondie,” she chuckled. It was all in good fun. For her, at least. “So no Titanfall, then?”

“I’m done playing shooters with you. See you guys on Minecraft.”

At that, Ymir frowned. She was familiar with it, and she’d seen some gameplay from streamers, so she had no problem with it. But that didn’t change the fact that she didn’t own the game.

“I don’t have that one. Pick something else.”

“Oh, right,” Reiner began. “I have an extra code you can redeem to get it.”

She stiffened, arching an eyebrow in confusion. “I don’t need your charity,” she said cautiously, her frown deepening. “I could buy it myself if you give me a week or something.”

“Oh, shut up. I bought it for my cousin, but she already has it and I can’t return it.”

“I told you--”

Bertholdt calmly interrupted her. “Ymir, it’ll go to waste otherwise. He wouldn’t give it to you if he thought it was a handout.” 

Sighing, Ymir considered the situation. It was true that her friends never looked at her differently for her financial situation. She preferred to buy things for herself with her own money, and they respected that. Besides, Bertholdt had a point. Reiner wasn’t the type of person to give her something out of pity.

“I can pay you for it,” she offered. 

“Okay, since I know you’ve got a stick up your ass, here’s the deal.” Ymir elected to ignore most of that statement, biting back a retort that she usually would have shot back. “I’ll give you the game, and you have to let me choose your username  _ and  _ your skin."

At once, the tension in her shoulders dissolved. That was a fair deal, considering Reiner would likely pick something stupid that the group could use to make fun of her. Comedy was a decent form of payment in her eyes. 

“Works for me,” Ymir agreed. “Thanks, man.”

“No problem. I’m sending you the code, so just follow the instructions on the card.” 

Sure enough, a soft  _ ding! _ sounded from her phone within minutes, and she set down her controller to check the message. Reiner had sent a picture of a gift card with a series of numbers and letters, followed by a picture of him flipping her off. She laughed gently, shaking her head. 

“Hey, this game is for PC,” she pointed out. “Can my computer even run this?”

“Don’t worry,” Annie assured her. “It’s not a huge game. Even your ancient computer could run it smoothly on low graphics.”

She removed her headset and placed it on the ground, standing up to retrieve her her backpack where it had been discarded in the corner. When she first started college, she had decided to invest in a used laptop for her schoolwork. It had made it through the first semester, so that was a win in her book. She thumbed through a few loose papers and pulled the thick computer from her fraying bag, holding it up like a prize.

Her phone buzzed again, and she glanced at the screen to see a text from Bertholdt.

**_Titan-sized:_ ** _ Don’t forget to use a computer mouse! It makes everything easier :) _

Ymir huffed, digging through her bag for her mouse. She rooted around and grasped a chord, but it was only a phone charger.  _ Damn, I gotta clean this out _ , she grumbled to herself. At least her roommate didn’t mind that she was so disorganized, though Ilse probably wasn’t around enough to mind anyway. They were friendly enough with each other, but they gave each other plenty of space, and it worked out nicely.

When she finally found her mouse, she thanked Bertholdt with a quick text and then returned to her seat on the floor, situating her computer on her lap. She placed her headset back around her ears and was greeted by more bickering from Reiner and Annie.

“What are you two on about?” Ymir groaned, opening up her laptop and typing in the website for the game. “I was gone for two minutes.”

“They’re arguing over what game mode to play,” Bertholdt answered, the sheepishness in his voice clear as day. He continued speaking over the other two, ignoring the raised voices. “Don’t mind them. Do you need any help downloading Minecraft?”

She shook her head, more out of instinct than necessity. “Nah, I’ve almost got it. But I need Reiner to tell me what name I should use.”

Annie and Reiner fell silent, and Reiner cleared his throat awkwardly. “Right on. I’ll text it to you.”

**_Braun over brains:_ ** _ Okay, here’s the skin you should use. _

**_Braun over brains:_ ** _ [Attachment: 1 image] _

**_Braun over brains:_ ** _ And this username _

**_Braun over brains:_ ** _ [Attachment: 1 image] _

**_Ymir:_ ** _ thanks for the quadruple text, dickhead _

**_Ymir:_ ** _ and wow, real mature _

She rolled her eyes and spent the following minutes setting up her account while the conversation in the voice chat turned to small talk. After the game finished downloading, she logged in and started it up. 

“Oi,” she called, “what do I do after I click multiplayer?”

“Good question,” Annie said, humming thoughtfully. “Reiner wanted to start with PVP, but I thought we should go with something a little more tame for your first time playing.”

“Hey! I can handle it, short-stack,” Ymir protested. She figured PC gaming couldn’t be that much different from console gaming, so she’d probably be able to hold her own. Plus, she’d seen a couple videos here and there on YouTube, and it didn’t look too complicated.

“Told ya, Annie,” Reiner cheered, his voice taking on an annoying sense of triumph. “Okay, so when you click multiplayer…”

He quickly walked her through the steps to joining a server, and once all four of them were in a party together, they gathered in a corner of the lobby. 

Annie was the first to comment on her online name. “Really, Reiner? Was ‘frecklebutt69’ the most creative thing you could think of?”

“Ease up,” Ymir insisted, suppressing a snicker. “He’s here on a football scholarship, so thinking is obviously not his strong suit.”

Reiner protested with a noise of frustration. “You guys are such dicks.”

“Come on, Rei,” Bertholdt added. “Your username is literally BrawnyBoy.”

“It’s a pun. It’s clever.”

“Sure.”

“Whatever.” Reiner huffed, and that was the end of that. Their group teased each other relentlessly, but never took it too far, so Reiner would probably be safe for another couple of minutes before he became a target again. “Okay, what are we playing?”

“What about survival games?” Bertholdt suggested. “The skill distribution is pretty decent, so you’ll have a good mix of newer players in there.”

Annie answered him before Ymir had the chance. “Sounds fine, but for the love of god just call it hunger games.”

“But that’s a book. Even if it’s based on the book, they can’t have the same name for copyright reasons, so--”

“Survival games it is!” Reiner shouted, and he warped all of the players into a game lobby. 

Ymir finally had a chance to voice her opposition, but it was just a bit too late. “I don’t even know the controls yet,” she said. “What am I supposed to do here?”

“You’ve got a few seconds before the game starts,” Annie replied. “Hit ‘escape’ and check out the button mapping. Good luck.”

“A few seconds?” With a final groan of protest, she scrolled through the list of controls just as a ticking sound began to play. Then an explosion noise went off, and she quickly swapped back to the game to see all of the players running to the center of the map. 

She began to follow their lead, but Reiner yelled, “Don’t go to the middle, dumbass! You’ll just die.”

As much as it pained her to listen to Reiner, he had a point. She didn’t exactly know what she was doing, and there were a lot of players over there, so she turned around and ran in the opposite direction. Well, sort of.

“How the fuck am I supposed to run?” she demanded, agonizing over her character’s slow speed. 

“Double-tap the forward key,” Annie responded with disinterest. All of her friends were nowhere to be seen on the screen, so they were probably off doing their own thing. Of course no one would want to help her--not that she needed it.

At least someone told her how to sprint. She fled from the circle in the middle and ran through a bunch of trees, only running into them occasionally. 

“So what’s the point of this game? Just don’t die?”

“Yeah. And grab chests so you get weapons and stuff.” 

“Thanks, shortie.”

“Die.”

_ Whoops _ . She just had to grab the low-hanging fruit. It was fine, she would manage on her own. 

After a bit of running, she found what she hoped was a chest sitting in plain sight. She didn’t see anyone else around, so she went for it. 

_ Okay, so the left mouse button is supposed to destroy things.  _ She held in the button, and her avatar started punching the chest.  _ Perfect. _ But when it finally broke, it simply reappeared in the same place, and there was still nothing in her inventory. 

“Why can’t I break the chest?” she insisted exasperatedly, bemoaning the time she had wasted. “Annie, you told me to grab it.”

Her friends didn’t even bother trying not to laugh. Reiner immediately let out a hearty guffaw, and Bertholdt’s quiet chuckle could be heard in the background. Annie said nothing, but Ymir knew she was probably smiling.

“You have to open it,” Bertholdt explained once they had finished laughing. “Right click and take the items. You can’t actually break things in this mode.”

“Oh.” 

She felt like an idiot, but she did as instructed even as the embarrassment burned on her cheeks. She was certainly not enjoying being a newbie. 

She was about to make a comment about this game mode being stupid when she suddenly began taking damage. Snapping out of her annoyance, she looked for the source and found another player attacking her with a wooden sword. 

Her health had already dropped below half, so she booked it out of there, sprinting off into the trees again. She wasn’t sure how to check if she was being followed, so she kept going until she found a suitable place to hide. Her hiding spot turned out to be a tiny cave on a cliffside. She pressed  _ shift _ , remembering from a YouTube video that it would hide her username. Now that she was presumably safe, she took a moment to assess the new items in her hotbar.

She had a stone sword, a few apples, and a leather helmet. After eating the apples to regenerate her health, she opened up her inventory and equipped the armor. Once she did, though, she heard footsteps outside the cave.

The player that had been attacking her appeared at the entrance. “Oh, shit.” Ymir switched to her sword and wondered if she should fight or run away, but the decision was made for her when the player ran towards her.

“Shit, shit, goddamn it,” she swore, rapidly clicking the attack button and doing her best to aim at the player. Her health was going down fast, and she had no idea how much health the other player was at, so she tried running out of the cave. 

Of course, the player followed her, so as soon as they were in front of her, she mashed the button again, attacking them as fast as she could. She thought she was a goner for sure.

Then she hit the player off the cliff.

She watched incredulously as the player plummeted to their death, hitting the ground and dropping all of their items.

A chatbox appeared at the bottom left corner of the screen with a death message:

_ christaclear fell from a high place whilst trying to escape frecklebutt69. _

“Fuck yes!” Ymir cried, pumping a fist in the air in victory. “Told you guys I could handle it. Bet ya didn’t believe me, huh?”

“Good job!” Bertholdt said in earnest, sounding proud. Annie muttered something along similar lines, though it was accompanied by the sound of clicking, so she was likely in the middle of battle.

She allowed herself a smug grin, basking in her triumph. Turning her attention back to the game, she started descending the cliff to pick up her spoils of war.

The chatbox appeared again, but this time it was a player’s message.

_ christaclear: I can’t believe I died to someone named frecklebutt69 with a derp steve skin. _

_ JaegerBomb: I WILL AVENGE YOU _

_ christaclear: omg no _

_ JaegerBomb: IM COMING FOR YOU FRECKLEBUTT69 _

“What did I do?” Ymir wondered aloud, frowning at the chat.  _ They must be friends or something. It’s fine, I killed one player and I can do it again. _

_ frecklebutt69: bring it bitchboy _

Annie’s chuckle came from the voice chat. “Don’t get cocky. Just try to outlast them.”

“What, you’re not proud of me too?” Ymir jokingly whined. If Annie were there, she probably would have punched her, but she was safe for now. 

“Just a bit. Now shut up.”

She laughed, returning to the game and sorting through the loot from the dead player. She had a bit more armor and some food, but not much that was good.  _ Oh well, it’s better than nothing _ . Once she had equipped the new gear, she set off to find more chests.

She found a couple good items, but she didn’t run into any more players. Death messages kept popping up in the chat, and that meant the herd was thinning. Her friends seemed to be alive still, so was somewhat nervous about having to fight them. Her equipment wasn’t that great, nor did she have any experience--they’d kill her right away.

She was about to give up on finding more loot when she noticed a chest tucked into a corner. Grinning at her luck, she started to approach the chest, but another player beat her to it. The player didn’t notice her, though, so she crouched nearby and waited for them to leave.

She looked at the player’s name and smirked.  _ JaegerBomb. _

It would be perfect. She could ambush them, take their loot, and brag about another kill. She was starting to think that this whole PC gaming thing wasn’t so bad. 

Running out from her hiding place, she attacked JaegerBomb with the iron sword she had picked up from the last chest. They turned around as soon as they were hit, attacking with an iron sword as well. They didn’t have much armor, so the two of them should have been evenly-matched.

She was wrong.

JaegerBomb kited around her, dodging all of her attacks and smacking her around like a piñata. She could only watch as her health bar dropped from ten to five and then down to zero.

_ frecklebutt69 was killed by JaegerBomb. _

She stared at the screen in defeat.  _ Dammit, I really thought I had it.  _ She had been sorely outmatched. “I should’ve just run away,” she groaned, leaning her head back against her wall. “Man.”

“You did alright for your first time,” Annie said, laughter in her voice. 

Ymir blinked. “Did you just compliment me?” 

“Don’t let it go to your head. Your forehead doesn’t need to be any bigger than it is.”

“Ow.” She sighed, going back to the game and choosing to spectate Annie. She didn’t really feel like watching her killer.

_ JaegerBomb: YOU FIGHT LIKE A NOOB _

_ JaegerBomb: GET REKT _

_ jellyfish09: you’re so mean _

_ JaegerBomb: FOLLOW MY TWITCH @ JAEGERBOMB _

Ymir glared at the chat, typing out her own message in response.

_ frecklebutt69: get your head out of your ass, it’s literally my first time playing _

_ JaegerBomb: YOU KILLED CHRISTA AND THE PUNISHMENT IS DEATH _

_ christaclear: you fought well, frecklebutt!! _

_ frecklebutt69: thank you _

_ frecklebutt69: see, it’s not hard to be nice _

“Good to see you’re already arguing with strangers on the internet,” Reiner quipped, and she rolled her eyes. If they were playing a different game, she would have killed JaegerBomb and trash-talked him to hell. Unfortunately, they were not playing a different game.

“It was fun while it lasted,” Ymir admitted. “But please tell me this isn’t the only game mode.”

“Don’t worry, it isn’t,” Bertholdt assured her. “We can play something else if you want.”

Before she could respond, she interrupted herself with a yawn. A quick glance at her phone told her that it was currently 12:32 in the morning. 

“Shit,” she muttered, sighing. “I have a 7:30 lab tomorrow morning.”

“When has that ever stopped you?” Reiner asked.

“Shut up, Mr. Failing Grade. I need to pass this class for my major.”

“Which is?”   


“Civil engineering.”

Reiner laughed, and she felt a spike of anger rise up. “Still can’t believe you’re a math nerd.”

She was used to people thinking she was stupid, but it didn’t mean she liked it. Plus, she happened to do quite well in her classes.

“Whatever,” she said, dismissing him. “I’m heading to bed anyway. Thanks for the game.”

“Sure.”

“Sleep well,” said Bertholdt. 

Annie chimed in, “Bye Ymir.”

She logged off from the voice chat and went to close the game when she noticed something in the chat.

_ christaclear has sent you a friend request! Click here to accept.  _ _ This message will disappear in 60 seconds. _

Ymir’s eyes widened. How long ago had that been sent? She fumbled with the mouse and hastily moved to click on the message.

_ Request accepted. You are now friends with christaclear. _

“Wait,” she mumbled, “why do I want to be friends with her?” At least, she assumed the player used those pronouns, considering her name was apparently “Christa”. 

_ Whisper from christaclear: so sorry about JaegerBomb! he never thinks before he types. that was probably a bad introduction to the game :( _

Ymir stared at the message for a moment. Well, she seemed nice enough.

_ Whisper from frecklebutt69: it’s cool. sorry for killing you btw _

_ Whisper from christaclear: no it’s okay!! you were just playing the game :)  _

_ Whisper from christaclear: if you want any help learning how to play, I can invite you to our survival server :) _

_ Whisper from frecklebutt69: seriously? that’s cool of you, but you don’t have to _

_ Whisper from christaclear: totally!! I love this game and want other people to love it as well _

_ Whisper from frecklebutt69: damn, you’re way too nice. be careful you don’t let people take advantage of that. _

_ Whisper from christaclear: like strangers on Minecraft? _

_ Whisper from frecklebutt69: touche _

_ Whisper from christaclear: anyway, can I add you on discord? _

_ Whisper from frecklebutt69: sure. I’m Yumiru#0104 _

_ Whisper from christaclear: sending a friend request now!  _

With that confirmation, Ymir logged out of the game and set her laptop aside, picking up her phone instead. Within moments, it lit up with a  _ ding!  _ and a notification popped up.

_ Christa L sent you a friend request. _

One button tap later, she was friends with Christa on Discord. 

_ Christa L: hi!! it’s christaclear _

_ Yumiru: no way _

_ Christa L: >:( _

Ymir chuckled, smiling softly at the screen. She quickly reminded herself not to be endeared, though. The person on the other side of the internet could be fourteen or fifty-seven, and she’d have no way of knowing. Even when making friends, she still had standards. 

_ Christa L: well, it’s kinda late where I am, but do you wanna join our server tomorrow? _

_ Yumiru: sounds good. but what do you mean “our”? _

_ Christa L: oh! I play with my friends on a private survival server _

_ Christa L: it’s not our SMP, so you can’t mess anything up :P _

_ Yumiru: what’s an SMP? _

_ Yumiru: and is JaegerBomb there? _

_ Christa L: he is, but don’t worry! he’s actually really nice, he just types in all caps sometimes _

_ Yumiru: i’ll believe it when i see it _

_ Yumiru: thanks for the offer, btw. Im heading to bed now. _

_ Christa L: of course!! goodnight :D _

She stared at her phone for a few moments, then typed out a response.

_ Yumiru: you too :)  _

Shutting her phone off, she stood up and stretched her limbs, twisting around to crack her back. About ten minutes had passed since she told the others she’d go to sleep, and she figured she’d better get to bed soon before she got too tired to move the next day. She plugged her phone into the charger by her bed and lazily stripped out of her clothes, climbing into bed once she was down to a tank top and boxers. 

“What a strange way to end the night,” she mumbled. 

She knew her friends cared for her and she was fine with the way they showed it, but the kindness from a stranger on the internet was admittedly refreshing. 

She smiled to herself in the darkness. Maybe this Minecraft thing wouldn’t be so bad after all.


	2. Multiplayer Survival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ymir joins Christa in a survival world with some of her friends--embarrassment, awkwardness, and antics ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, maybe it was too ambitious of me to think I'd post a chapter every week. But regardless, I come bearing gifts.

Ymir’s classes seemed to drag on for an eternity. Her morning physics class turned out to be a three-hour lab, which normally wouldn’t be so terrible if Professor Zoe wasn’t absent. Rather than cancel the class, she had assigned a mountain of busywork, insisting in an email that it was important and she’d be back soon.

After an excruciating amount of useless homework, she was able to move onto her next class, Basics of Engineering. As much as she enjoyed the subject, she was bored to tears—it was just too easy for her to be engaged. 

When she finally finished classes for the day, she found herself instinctually flopping onto her bed. She lay there for a few minutes, facedown on the duvet. She wanted to stay there forever. 

“Rough day?”

Ymir didn’t bother lifting her head at the sound of Ilse’s voice. “Mhmm.”

“Sorry to hear that. I hope you feel better soon.”

And that was that. Their interactions were amicable, they just never lasted long. If Ymir thought about it, she supposed that Ilse had tried to make friends with her at the beginning of the school year. It wasn’t that Ilse was a bad person or anything–Ymir just wasn’t interested. She had three friends that had somehow wormed their way past her walls, and that was pretty much her max capacity.

She lay there for a bit longer, willing herself to stay awake. She was decently tired, but if she fell asleep now, she’d probably wake up hours later.

Then she’d miss playing Minecraft with Christa.

_Oh yeah,_ she mused, _I guess I’ve been looking forward to that._

Briefly, she wondered if she was being hypocritical. She had a real, tangible roommate who had been willing and eager to befriend her. Ymir had ignored her, but now she was making an effort to befriend a stranger she only met the day before.

_I’m not trying to make friends_ , she reminded herself. _She’s just showing me how to play the game so I can kick Reiner’s ass._ With a smile, she imagined the look on Reiner’s face when she showed up to their next game session with mad skills. If she could see him, it’d be priceless.

Rolling onto her side, she pulled out her phone and opened her Discord messages. She could message Christa now and wait for a response while she showered and switched into “relaxation mode” for the night. Yeah, that would work.

_Yumiru: hey, what time do u wanna play minecraft?_

She briefly remembered that time zones existed, so she sent another message:

_Yumiru: it’s 3pm for me btw_

With that taken care of, she tossed her phone onto her bed, swiping a towel from a corner of her room and setting off for her shower.

She stood under the running water for an unusually long amount of time, enjoying the cool, refreshing stream wash over her. Warm water always put her to sleep, but colder showers were rejuvenating. It was just what she needed for another late night–well, topping it off with an energy drink wouldn’t hurt. She pretty much ran on caffeine and spite at this point.

Around fifteen minutes later, once she was dried off and dressed in comfy sweats, she checked her phone for messages. Upon seeing a message from Christa, she allowed herself a small grin.

_Christa L: yeah!! I just came home from class, so you caught me at a good time :)_

Ymir frowned, squinting at the message as if that would give her a sudden insight. So, Christa was a student. She looked away for a moment, realizing that it was incredibly creepy of her to make assumptions like that about a stranger. In her head, though, she chanted, _please don’t be a child._

She typed out a response:

_Yumiru: idk how all this stuff works. how am i supposed to join you?_

Within seconds, Christa replied. 

_Christa L: I’ll invite you to our discord server! we can voice chat and I’ll walk you through it :)_

_Yumiru: oh, thanks_

Soon after, a notification popped up, letting her know that she had been sent an invite to a server. It was called “mine and crime”, which made her chuckle. Smiling, she tapped on the link to join, and her screen swapped over to the server display.

_Yumiru slid into the chat._

_historia: join me in vc!!_

Ymir raised an eyebrow. That had to be Christa; she knew how Discord nicknames worked, but she wasn’t sure why she had chosen an entirely different name. Oh, well. She could ask her soon. With a shrug, she went to boot up her laptop and log in, taking a seat on her bed.

When she joined the voice channel, she was greeted much more eagerly than she had expected.

“Freckle butt!” 

The voice coming from her headset was high-pitched and excited, and Ymir found herself grinning at the enthusiasm from the stranger on the other end. “Christa?”

“Hi! And you can just call me Historia.” 

Ymir nodded, fully knowing that Historia couldn’t see her. “Is it a nickname, or..?”

“Well, Christa is the name I go by online,” she explained, sounding a bit sheepish. “You can never be too careful!”

She wasn’t sure whether or not she should be flattered that Historia was trusting her with her name after just one conversation. After a moment, she decided that it was a nice gesture.

“Well, I’m Ymir,” she offered, navigating her computer screen over to the game. “It’s really cool that you invited me to play with you, by the way. Even though you don’t know me at all.”

Historia laughed, bright and cheery, and Ymir’s stomach flip-flopped. _Cute,_ she thought, followed by: _please don’t be a child._

“You don’t need to thank me,” Historia said. “I’m happy to help a new player!”

“Right.” Truthfully, Ymir had no idea what to say. She was used to the easy banter of her friend group where they insulted each other for fun; how was she supposed to talk to someone nice?

“Oh, I’ll send you the server address, and you can join me online!”

“Sounds great, thanks.”

A message in the general chat popped up with an address, and Ymir typed it into the multiplayer screen. After a bit of loading, her avatar spawned into a forest.

“I’m in,” Ymir said. “What do I do from here?”

“Have you ever played before this?” Historia asked. There was no mocking tone in her voice; this girl was as genuine as they come.

“You mean aside from my glorious victory last night?” she teased, grinning to herself. “No, never.”

“That’s okay. I’ll come get you from the spawn, and I’ll give you some tools!”

“Oh, thanks.” 

While she waited for Historia to find her, Ymir decided to collect some materials by punching trees. She knew how to do that much, at least. 

“So, Ymir,” Historia began, her curiosity evident by her tone. “You should tell me about yourself!” She quickly added, “You know, if you feel comfortable.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s fine.” Ymir paused for a moment, looking around her room as if it would give her answers. She wanted to say something that wouldn’t be awkward yet wouldn’t give away too much about herself. Stranger danger, after all. “Um, I play a lot of video games, but I’ve never tried PC gaming, so this is a little new to me.”

“Oh, awesome! You picked a pretty good game to start with, I think.” 

“Yeah, I’m starting to think so too.” She looked at her inventory, which now had a few wooden logs in it. “Hey, how do I craft stuff?”

Historia chuckled, and her laugh quickly cut off as if it had been stifled. “You weren’t kidding when you said you were new at this, were you?”

“Nope. Not kidding. Wait, I’ve got it.” It took a bit of clicking around, but she managed to convert all of the logs into wooden planks. “But I did manage to beat you in PVP, so I can’t be that bad for a newbie.”

“Well, I’m not great at fighting, so don’t get too excited.” On the screen, Historia’s avatar–cutesy, blonde, and adorned with flowers–came into view, and Ymir waved by punching the air in her direction. Historia laughed again.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, it’s just…” She could tell that Historia was trying to hold back another laugh. “Your skin is so ridiculous.”

Ymir felt her face warm. “I forgot about that. But to be fair, my friend picked it for me.”

“Really? Did they also pick your username?”

“He did, actually. He’s kind of a jerk.”

Historia hummed softly. “Guys can be like that. And speaking of jerks…”

Ymir rose an eyebrow in confusion, but it faded when she saw the new message in the game’s chat:

_JaegerBomb joined the game._

_starfish09 joined the game._

“Looks like your angry friend is here,” Ymir noted. Historia had mentioned the night before that she shared the server with her friends, so it was only natural that they would join at some point. She just expected to have a little more time to get to know Historia one-on-one. Not for any particular reason, of course.

“Don’t mind him,” Historia said, a smile in her voice. “He’s harmless, I promise.” Her avatar approached her and dropped a few different stone tools, backing away and crouching beside them. “These are for you!”

“Hey, thanks.” She used her new axe to cut down another tree. “This is much faster than just my hand.”

“Okay, now you can follow me to my house!” 

“Not even gonna buy me dinner first?” Ymir instantly regretted the joke as soon as she said it, but Historia only laughed, easing her anxiety.

“You know, I’m sure I’ve got some food you can have. Oh, one sec.”

_christaclear: you guys should join vc!!_

_starfish09: okay! :)_

“Don’t worry, Ymir. Armin will make sure he’s nice to you!” 

“Huh? I’m not worried,” she insisted.

That was only half-true. She didn’t care one way or another if “JaegerBomb” was rude, but she wasn’t looking to make friends with a whole group. If everyone was kind to her, she wouldn’t have an excuse to keep them at an arm’s length. Frankly, she didn’t have space in her life for more people. 

She had Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt. That was enough. 

There was a gentle _beep boop_ that signaled a new addition to the voice channel, followed by another shortly after it. 

“Hi, Historia!” came a cheerful voice.The other voice was definitely less enthused, greeting them with a simple, “Yo.”

“Hey!” Historia said eagerly. “Good to see you here!”

“Who the heck is ‘Yumiru’?” said the grumpy one. 

“Guys, this is Ymir. Ymir, this is Armin and Eren!”

The cheerful one happily introduced himself as Armin, meaning the less-talkative guy was Eren. While they got introductions out of the way, in-game Ymir followed Historia through the forest until they reached a clearing full of houses.

“Eren,” Ymir began, “you must be _JaegerBomb_ , right?” Somehow, it felt like she was poking a bear. But that was fine, she enjoyed stirring up a ruckus anyway.

“Huh? Yeah.” Eren was silent for a moment, likely processing what she had said. “How did you…?” Another pause as he connected the dots, and then he arrived at his answer with an incredulous cry. “Frecklebutt?!”

“Sixty-nine,” Ymir added proudly. Reiner’s stupid name choice was actually amusing; who would’ve guessed?

“Why are you in our Discord?” he floundered. “Why are you in our server?”

Armin interrupted him gently. “Calm down, Eren.”

Historia’s laugh filled the voice channel, and she chimed in. “Ymir’s new to the game, so I’m gonna show her the ropes. Be nice to her, okay?”

“Nice to meet you, Ymir!”

“Same to you, Armin.”

Eren didn’t say anything, but that was alright. He likely felt that Ymir was a stranger invading his friend group–which she sort of was–so she didn’t blame him for being annoyed.

“You too, Eren,” Ymir added. The last thing she wanted was to insult Historia’s friends, especially when she’d been so kind as to invite her in the first place.

“Okay!” Historia said. “Ymir, let me show you my house!”

Armin laughed at that. “I think she’s just excited to show it off.”

In the game, Historia walked down a path, pointing out different buildings as they went. She looked over at a stone building that somewhat resembled a castle–the key word being _somewhat_. “That’s where Eren and Armin live,” she explained. “They go for practicality more than appearances.”

“Hey!” Eren protested. “Don’t insult Fort Eremin.”

“Eremin?” Ymir asked.

“It’s our names combined.”

“Oh, cool.” _Are they…? Probably._

Historia continued, ignoring Eren even as he launched into a rant about the advantages of a practical home. “Mikasa lives over there. She’s Eren’s sister.” The house in question looked more like a shed. It was small and compact, likely more practical than the so-called Fort Eremin.

“It’s tiny.”

“Yeah, she doesn’t play here that often. She’s pretty busy, right Eren?”

Eren grumbled something mostly unintelligible in response, though Ymir thought she caught the phrase “no time for us”. That seemed like a can of worms she didn’t want to open, so she didn’t comment on it.

“Which one is your house?”

“We’re getting there, be patient!”

A moment passed, and they arrived at a quaint cottage made of wood, logs, and different types of stone. It was artfully built, with a plethora of flowers placed in the area surrounding it. The builder definitely put a lot of time and care into their home.

“I’m guessing this one is yours?” Ymir asked, moving ahead to admire the outside decor. There was a little picnic table, a pond, and even what looked like a mailbox. 

“Yeah!” Historia followed her up to an arch over the path. “How’d you know?”

“Aside from the flowers that practically scream ‘wholesome’,” Ymir answered, “I think _that_ gave me a clue.” She looked up at the arch, upon which a sign had been placed reading, _Historia’s Happy Home_. There were also cutesy emoticons above and below the text.

“Oh yeah!” Historia giggled. “I totally forgot that I put that there. I always just run by it, so I think it’s great that you noticed it!”

“Well, it looks like you worked hard on your house, so it’d be rude not to admire the whole thing.”

“Aw, you’re sweet.” 

Historia opened the front door, moving inside and waiting for Ymir to follow. She went inside as well and was greeted by an interior just as aesthetic as the exterior. “Wow. It’s so pretty in here.”

Lanterns hung from a low ceiling, and flowerpots sat beside just about every window. The room was small but cozy, giving off a vibe that Ymir would definitely call “cottagecore”. 

“Really? I’m glad you think so!” Historia sounded pleased, even excited, and Ymir’s heart did the flip-flop thing again. She couldn’t help it–she wasn’t used to someone being so warm. _Jeez, Ymir_ , she chastised herself. _Basic human kindness is no reason for you to get butterflies._

Eren picked that moment to butt in, interrupting that train of thought. “Hey Ymir, what do you do? Y’know, like a day job or something?”

“Eren!” Historia exclaimed, sounding offended. “You shouldn’t just ask people stuff like that on the internet.”

“What’s the problem?” he replied, nonchalant. “You invited a stranger into our voice channel, I feel like I should be allowed to know a little bit about her.”

Armin added, “He kind of has a point.”

While Historia searched for a response, Ymir took the opportunity to speak up. “I’m actually in college, I’m nineteen. I hope I didn’t come across as a creep, I seriously didn’t mean to. Uh, if I’ve made you guys uncomfortable, I can leave, I–”

“Ymir, stop,” Historia interrupted, and Ymir immediately shut up. _Oh, man, she probably thinks I’m so weird. What if she’s like, twelve, and I really am being a creep? Okay, she’s probably not twelve, but still._ She was jerked out of her spiraling thoughts when she realized Historia was laughing.

“Huh?”

“You’re totally fine!” she said. “We’re actually all nineteen too! So you have nothing to worry about.”

Ymir let out a breath, sighing as relief washed over her. “Oh.” Then, the relief immediately gave way to embarrassment, and she felt her face heat up. At the very least, Eren and Armin were mercifully silent. “Uh, that sounded pretty stupid, didn’t it?”

“It’s okay,” Historia assured her, “I actually think it was nice of you to be so considerate.”

Her face burned. She had gone and made a fool of herself, though she supposed it was better than being a creep or an asshole. There were worse things for her to do; still, it probably wasn’t the best first impression. She’d just have to make up for it.

Not that she cared about first impressions, because she definitely didn’t.

“Right, so…” She cleared her throat, hopefully clearing away most of the awkwardness. “What am I supposed to do? In Minecraft, I mean.” 

“Let’s get you started with the basics.” Historia left the cottage, going back to the path, and Ymir followed her out. After a moment, she found herself at a flat area located just a small distance away from Historia’s house.

“And who lives here?” Ymir joked as she glanced at the empty grass. 

“You!” 

“Me?”

“Yep.”

Ymir blinked at the computer screen. She wasn’t sure she had heard correctly. “You’re really inviting me to build a house on your server?”

Eren quickly assured her, “It’s not that deep. This server isn’t super exclusive, you know.”

“I know,” she answered, somewhat defensively. “I’m just not educated on Minecraft etiquette.”

Historia laughed. “It’s okay, Ymir. Don’t let Eren give you a hard time.”

“Okay then.” She grinned. “Next time, JaegerBomb, I’m not pulling any punches.”

“Thank goodness,” said Armin, “someone needs to check his ego.”

“Hey!” All three of them laughed at Eren’s protest. “You’re my boyfriend, you’re supposed to be on my side.”

Ymir raised a brow. “Boyfriend?”

Immediately, Eren was defensive. “Yeah, got a problem?”

“Woah, chill.” She laughed, rolling her eyes. She couldn’t really fault him, though; it had taken her a long time to ignore what people thought. “I’m literally a lesbian.”

“Oh.” He went quiet briefly. “That’s cool. My sister’s a lesbian too.”

“Okay?”

_Dang,_ she thought. _It got awkward again. Probably my fault–nah, Eren made it weird._

“Anyway,” Historia continued, moving on as if nothing had happened, “you can start building here. Just place your blocks wherever you want and don’t worry too much about how it looks.”

“Got it.” She nodded, scrolling through her hotbar and selecting the wood planks. “Whatever I make, it can’t be worse than Eren’s place, right?”

Historia giggled, making Ymir’s smile grow wider even as Eren grew frustrated in the background. “Exactly! You seem to know what you’re doing.” She could only hear voices from the headset, but she imagined that Historia punctuated the sentence with a wink.

Her task was simple enough: build a house. She could manage that. But hidden behind the simplicity was the weight of a much grander, heavier task: it had to be better than Eren’s, and it had to impress Historia. This was her big first impression on the more experienced players, and she was nothing if not the best. Well, she tried to be the best, at least.

She started off by placing wood planks in a rectangular frame. It was medium-sized, not too ambitious but not tiny either. She left a space for double-doors then built up the frame by another layer, but she ran out of materials rather quickly.

She had her tools from Historia, so she figured she’d better go find more blocks to build with. She headed off into the forest, making sure to travel a good distance before she started chopping down trees. It was only polite. 

Once she had gathered enough wood, she was on her way back to the build site when she encountered a hole in the ground. She dropped down only to discover that it was more than just a hole–she had found a cave. _Nice, I think._

Most of the cave was dark, but she used a pickaxe to gather some stone for building. It would be a nice accent for her house, and it would hopefully score her some points in the _better than Eren_ category. Not that it was too difficult–Eren’s house was made entirely from stone.

Out of nowhere, she started taking damage.

“Oh shit,” she murmured, spinning around to find her attacker. Surprisingly, it wasn’t Eren messing with her. She found herself face-to-face with a zombie that, unfortunately, was killing her.

She clicked the mouse button rapidly, swinging her pickaxe at the monster. Historia hadn’t given her a sword, so it would have to do. She was certain her victory was almost at hand when another zombie joined the fight, and Ymir decided to make a tactical retreat.

She didn’t get very far, though; she ran a small distance away and used the stone she had gathered to protect herself from the zombies. She also happened to trap herself inside.

“Hey, do you think someone could help me?”

“Sorry, busy,” came Eren’s voice, and she rolled her eyes. It was followed by a quiet, “ _Eren._ ”

Thankfully, Historia answered her plea. “What’s up, Ymir?” 

“I’m kinda stuck in a cave,” she explained, sighing. “I’m surrounded by zombies. Help me, Historia, you’re my only hope.”

“Was that a Star Wars reference?” Historia asked, a teasing edge to her voice.

“Maybe.” 

“You didn’t mention you were a nerd! Okay, I’ll come save you. Where are you?”

“Uh, a cave?” 

“Very helpful, thank you.”

“Right.” Ymir chuckled. “Um, I went behind my house, I’m somewhere around the lack of trees.”

“Got it, I’ll see if I can find you.” 

Outside of the walls she had hastily built around herself, the zombies growled menacingly while her health bar remained at a meager three hearts. It was kind of embarrassing that she needed help with just about everything in the game so far–she’d have to get better at it soon, especially if she wanted to beat Reiner someday.

“I think I found you!” Historia cried excitedly; seconds later, the sound of dying zombies came from the headset, and then there was silence. One of the walls was broken down, and she was met by Historia’s flowery avatar. “You’re safe now.”

It was just a game, but something about her words made Ymir smile. 

“My hero,” Ymir laughed, voice lilting in a mock swoon. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“No problem!” Historia moved aside, leaving room for Ymir to emerge from her hiding spot. “While we’re here, you should make a sword too, so you don’t get stuck like that again.”

“Won’t I have you to protect me?”

Again, Historia’s laugh filled her ears. It was melodic, really. “For now, sure, but you’ll have to fight eventually.”

She had a point. “Alright, fine.” She made herself a crafting table and placed it on the floor of the cave. While she made her sword, Historia watched her back for monsters. 

“You ready to head back, Ymir?”

“I think so.”

Together, they set out from the cave, journeying back to the plaza where the houses were. Now that she had sufficient materials, Ymir was able to finish adding another layer onto the foundation of her home. She stacked another row of wood on top, then knocked out the corners and replaced them with cobblestone. Soon, her home had walls that were three blocks tall; it was beginning to shape up, at last.

“Ymir,” Historia said, striding into her unfinished house. “I have something for you.”

Ymir paused her building to gaze down at Historia from her position on the wall. “What’s up?”

“Here!” She placed a yellow bed in the center of the room, then looked back up. “It’s getting dark, and you need to sleep to set your spawn point.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” She hopped down and right-clicked on the bed to do as Historia said. “And thanks.” 

“Sure! I thought yellow might be your color. What do you think?”

Ymir balked at the screen. Truthfully, she didn’t care one way or the other about yellow–she had never taken the time to choose a favorite color. But Historia was so enthusiastic, so sincere, that Ymir might have to see it in a different light.

“Yeah,” she managed. “I like it.”

“Great!” With that taken care of, Historia placed a few torches on the walls, lighting up the area. “And this is the last gift I’ll give you–after this, you have to fend for yourself!”

“You’re too nice.”

“Oh, stop.” Historia laughed. “It’s just Minecraft.”

“Yeah.”

Ymir smiled to herself, leaning against her pillow. It was peaceful, playing this game with a few strangers. She decided she would have to get her friends onto a server. Maybe even one with Historia and her friends as well. She was getting ahead of herself, though–best not to think too far into the future.

She was beginning to build a roof for her house when Historia announced her departure. “Sorry guys,” she said. “I think I’ve got to get going. Ymir, will you be okay on your own?”

Armin answered before she had the chance to. “We’re still here, you know.”

“Oh, let me rephrase that. Ymir, will you be okay with these dorks?”

Eren interjected with a, “Hey!”

Ymir only laughed. “I’ll be fine. They’re not so bad.”

“You only say that because you don’t know them yet,” Historia insisted. 

“Okay, fine. Armin isn’t so bad.”

“ _Hey!_ ”

“Seriously, though,” she continued. “You guys are cool. Thanks for letting me play with you.”

“You’re cool too, Ymir!” The joy in Historia’s voice was infectious, and she couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks for joining us.”

“Yeah,” Eren said. “You’re alright. Oh, and make sure you follow me on Twitch!”

“Eren, stop self-promoting,” Historia demanded. Ymir got the sense that it was something Eren did quite often.

“It’s okay. I’ll drop a follow.” Ymir pulled out her phone, opening the Twitch app. She only had an account to follow Reiner, who had once tried his hand at streaming. He only got around thirty followers, but at least Ymir was one of them. 

“Really? Thanks!” He seemed excited, which was definitely a change from his earlier grumpiness. _I guess everyone has different sides_ , she mused.

“Okay,” Historia said. “I’ll see you all later! And say hi to Mikasa for me.”

“Will do,” Armin assured. “Bye! Have fun with… well, whatever it is!”

A _beep-boop_ indicated that Historia left the voice channel, leaving just Ymir, Armin, and Eren. While she briefly thought of logging off the game, she figured sticking around couldn’t hurt. The guys seemed cool enough, after all, and she wanted to keep working on her house.

On her phone, she typed _JaegerBomb_ into the search bar, tapping on the profile that had to be Eren’s. After tapping the _follow_ button, she clicked on one of his previous streams. It looked like a competitive game mode in Minecraft, like the “survival games” she had played the night before with her friends. She glanced at the corner of the screen where a video of Eren’s face was displayed.

_He seems normal enough,_ she thought.

The title of the stream read, “Bedwars with christaclear” in all caps. Very in-character for Eren. But the description included a link, so she clicked on it, following the link to another Twitch page.

Historia’s Twitch page.

Briefly, she wondered if she was somehow invading their privacy. But then again, how could she if their profiles were available for everyone to see? Besides, she already had one foot in the grave–best to jump in with both feet now.

She clicked on one of Historia’s streams.

“Holy shit,” she muttered. 

The content was unremarkable, probably just an ordinary Minecraft stream. But she wasn’t looking at the content–her eyes were on the corner of the screen, focused on the beaming blonde girl that was animatedly narrating her gameplay.

“She’s _beautiful_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I'm thinking about building their houses in Minecraft--I think it could represent each of their personalities pretty well, plus it'd be fun to do. 
> 
> And don't worry: the story won't be online the whole time! I fully intend to have Ymir and Historia find each other in the real world. But it'll take us some time to get there :) 
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment! I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Usernames, in case anyone is confused:  
> frecklebutt69: Ymir  
> christaclear: Historia   
> JaegerBomb: Eren  
> starfish09: Armin  
> BrawnyBoy: Reiner  
> lionheart22: Annie  
> HooverDamn: Bertholdt  
> mikaman: Mikasa (not yet included)  
> There will be more characters later, but these are the primary characters!
> 
> finally, a link to the tiktok by @hangezoesgff that inspired the fic:  
> https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJoY5C9a


End file.
